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Former Ohio Sunday school teacher pleads guilty to sexual battery www.privateofficer.com
Warren County OH March 13 2012 A former Sunday school teacher has pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual battery in Warren County Common Pleas Court.
Daniel Earl Webster, 41, of Loveland, who used to teach Sunday school at the Life Adventure Church in Lebanon, pleaded guilty to two of the third degree felonies.
He was orginally indicted on two counts of sexual battery and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor in February.
Webster was arrested on Jan. 27 after an investigation into allegations he performed sex acts on a 16-year-old family friend. The acts started when the boy was 15 and continued on for about a year, according to police reports. Webster was the boy’s Sunday school teacher but Prosecutor David Fornshell said the incidents didn’t happen at the church.
His attorney. Charlie M. Rittgers. said his client faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence, five years for each count.
Rittgers said Webster wanted to atone for his actions.
“Daniel wanted to take responsibility for his actions,” he said. “And he didn’t want to put the victim or his family through a trial. That was the reason why the plea happened so quickly.”
Pastor Joe Stookey at the church said Webster hadn’t been teaching at the church for at least seven months before the news of the arrest came out. He said everyone was understandably shocked.
“That’s good news,” he said about the guilty plea. “I’m pleased to know that and it just makes it easier on everybody.”
Webster has been in the jail since his arrest. Judge Robert Peeler is scheduled to sentence Webster on April 17.
Ohio man jumps from bridge in suicide death www.privateofficer.com
Mitchell Schnure, 22, of Loveland, ended his life by jumping from northbound bridge that carries Interstate 71stretches over Little Miami River according to Sgt. Tracy Callahan of the Ohio Highway Patrol’s Lebanon post.
Callahan said he attempted to negotiate with Schnure for approximately an hour to come down off the bridge before Schnure jumped at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The situation caused a traffic back up for about an hour in both directions of I-71.
Schnure had left a message for family members of his plan to jump and they contacted authorities, Callahan said.
Schnure’s body was later recovered by the highway patrol.
Approximately six people a year attempt to commit suicide by jumping off the Jeremiah Morrow Bridge, according to the patrol. The structure is the tallest bridge in the state of Ohio.
